This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Gallatin’s 2017 Class 1 State Champion Golf Team: Gabe Cole, Jett Simmons, Haden Bradford, Logan Burns, Wyatt Bird and Coach Chad Sullenger.
When the Gallatin school van rolled into the GHS parking GSGparking lot Tuesday evening, it was no coincidence that Haden Bradford exited first holding this year’s Class 1 state golf championship trophy.
Bradford, a freshman, toiled all season long as the Bulldogs’ #5 golfer, rarely getting to use his individual score toward the team total. That changed on Tuesday, in a dramatic way.
Gallatin golfers found themselves right where they wanted to be and right where they needed to be after Monday’s opening round of the MSHSAA Class 1 Golf Championship. In what was expected to be a tightly-contested tournament, the Bulldogs, with a 4-man total of 330, jumped out to a 10-stroke lead over Lincoln and 11-stroke advantage over Marceline and Greenwood on Monday at Silo Ridge Golf Club in Bolivar.
Tuesday brought different playing conditions, with high winds, and a different dynamic on the course as Greenwood surged to the front with Gallatin and both teams finished with two-day totals of 677.
Enter Gallatin’s #5 team member.
With a tie at the top, the championship was then awarded on the basis of the teams’ #5 score on the second day. Bradford, the only Bulldog to improve his score from day one, shot 92 on Tuesday. Greenwood’s Aidan McQueary shot 102. The Bulldogs celebrated a fifth boys’ state golf title back home with fans, who turned out for their arrival back at the school Tuesday evening.
“We had the largest support of any school down there,” said GHS golf coach Chad Sullenger, who thanked those who attended the two-day tournament and those who showed up to welcome the group back to Gallatin. “It seems like that’s the case every time we go down there.”
Jett Simmons led the pack for the Bulldogs with rounds of 75 and 81. He finished the tournament in a two-man tie for fourth place. Simmons notched his third state medal as an individual and member of a top four placing team.
Newly-graduated Wyatt Bird performed well in his last act as a GHS athlete, shooting rounds of 82 and 87 to finish 22nd overall.
Gabe Cole shot consistent rounds of 87 for the Bulldogs. Logan Burns joined him by finishing inside the top half of golfers with rounds of 86 and 92. Bradford’s 92 on Tuesday was an 11-shot improvement over his first day total.
La Plata’s Logan Smith earned the Class 1 medalist award by shooting 76 on Monday and 74 on Tuesday. Gannon Withers of New Bloomfield finished three strokes back, shooting 77 and 76.